何謂永續農業：探討永續農業國際發展脈絡與建構永續農業內涵層級架構

What is the Sustainable Agriculture: Tracing the International Development Context and Building a Hierarchical Framework for Sustainable Agriculture Connotation

農業涉及土地及自然資源利用且與環境互為影響，並攸關眾多農民生計及全體人類生命，推動永續農業已成為國際趨勢。永續農業在聯合國永續發展目標（SDGs）中扮演重要角色，2023年第28次聯合國氣候變遷大會發表「永續農業、韌性糧食系統及氣候行動」領導人宣言，亦揭示永續農業的重要性；然而，當前國際社會對於永續農業尚無共通性定義。因此，本文目的在於透過系統性文獻回顧法探討永續農業意涵，進而提出全面性的永續農業內涵層級架構，作為我國推動永續農業政策的參考。本文也追溯永續農業的國際發展脈絡，歸納其發展歷程可分為兩個時期：（1）1880年代至1970年代為「永續農業概念形成期」，此時期重視農業與環境及資源保育的關聯性，期間陸續倡議各種替代農法，並已蘊含永續農業概念；（2）1980年代迄今為「永續農業發展期」，此時期「永續農業」受到廣泛提倡且擴大所涉及面向。本文建構之永續農業內涵層級架構，涵蓋環境、經濟、社會、治理、知識等五大面向，並由目標及原則兩大部分構成各面向之內涵。此層級化永續農業內涵架構具有相當重要的應用價值，可作為制定永續農業政策之參考，以及未來訂定我國農業永續指標系統的基礎，據以掌握與追蹤我國農業永續性發展情形及變化趨勢，亦可評估農業施政成效及有助於調整農業政策方向，同時也利於與國際永續農業發展狀態進行比較。

Agriculture involves the use of land and natural resources, interacting with the environment, and related to the livelihoods of farmers and all human’s lives. Therefore, promoting sustainable agriculture (SA) has become an important international trend. SA plays an important role to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Also, on the 28th UN Climate Change Conference (COP 28) in 2023, the leaders’declaration“COP28 declaration on sustainable agriculture, resilient food systems, and climate action”, was issued which clearly reveals the importance of SA. However, there is currently no consensus on the definition of SA in the international community. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the concepts of SA by systematically reviewing relevant literatures and construct a hierarchical framework for SA connotation. This study also traced the international development context of SA and summarized the development history into two periods: (1) The first period from the 1880s to the 1970s was the“SA concept formation period”. During this period, emphasis was placed on the agriculture’s correlation with environment and resource conservation. Various alternative farming methods has been advocated and has encompassed the concept of SA. (2) The second period from the 1980s to the present was the“SA development period.”During this period, the term SA has gradually been widely used and expanded its scope. The comprehensive hierarchical framework for SA connotation proposed by this study covers five dimensions including environment, economy, society, governance and knowledge, and each dimension consists of goals and principles. Its application includes serving as a reference for the formulation of sustainable agricultural policies, and being the basis for constructing the SA indicator system in order to monitor and track the sustainable development trend of Taiwan’s agriculture in the future, as well as to assess the effectiveness of agricultural policies and to assist for adjusting the agricultural policies. The SA indicator system will also be helpful to compare the status of agricultural sustainability between Taiwan and other countries.